Why Buy Art

“I understand you don’t like that one, but I think this one will be the best to match your TV backdrop!” A man in a gorgeous black suit pointing at a large scale painting and, said to another man dressed casually. 

“Let me think about it.” The causally dressed man said, “Personally I like it, but still have to ask my wife’s opinion.” 

It’s easy to drift in and out other’s conversation in crowd, like the EXPO Chicago. They would go to the “black box” to discuss the specific pricing or something private, but instance like this one can always interest me. Conversations show the relationship between people. No matter how the relationship is built, stories are hidden in the conversation. And this is a story which was happening in a gallery booth at EXPO, was like many other similar stories happening in other booths. 

In the end, I believe I saw those two men shaking hands. Maybe the transaction was completed? Maybe not, the hand shacking was just out of politeness.) The painting is priced at 30,000 dollars, and it is quite abstract — light blue background with faint human figures, delightful, even showing a little childish. 

Wait! Why did he spend (around) 30,000 dollars to buy a painting only for his TV backdrop decoration? 

This year, EXPO Chicago presented artworks from 140 galleries around world. These 140 galleries all gathered at the Navy Pier, becoming a shopping mall, not for dresses, but for art. (Actually I did see dresses in EXPO Chicago, but they were not pieces of clothing anymore.) Maybe likening the artwork to clothes can explain the reason people agree to spend 30,000 just to decorate a TV backdrop. People do not need much clothes, but they always want something new and pretty, even if most of them know nothing about the meaning of a certain design, or the color choosing of the cloth they eagerly buy. 

Chasing beauty is human nature. 

But just one problem, art is not clothing, art should be much more than clothing. 

When I was enjoying my diet coke at the bar, I heard a woman’s voice, sharp and loud. I couldn’t understand anything she said, because she spoke in Russian. She was talking on the phone, and I assumed she was angry at the person was at the other end of the line. Luckily, my companion understand Russian, proving that I was wrong. 

“She said ‘I saw something very special! You should have it!’” My companion told me. 

The woman is a beautiful, blond, dressed in a black business suit, and in high heels of course, but her voice wasn’t beautiful at all. Why she wanted to sell the art to her client in such a hurry? I’m not sure. It might be because of the boisterous environment, she had to shout for her client hear her clearly; or perhaps she had a stubborn client, who had worn her patience down. Suddenly, I felt bad, what was it that made this beautiful women unbeautiful? 

What else had lost its beauty? The art. When people put art in a supermarket for purchasing, is it still art? Art is supposed to be exhibited in a museum, where it can be appreciated by the visitors. Then it is art. When art becomes merchandise, the angel has fallen becoming prostitute. People can buy art and throw it in their closet until they forget about it, then what is the difference between a piece of art and a piece of clothing? 

Still, you can spend 30,000 dollars to buy a piece for backdrop decoration, if you have the money. 

Good for A Dream Cage

“Sorry?” I asked. 

“I said this painting is beautiful,” the man repeated. 

It was McArthur Binion’s work, DNA: Season: I, 2016. I asked him for a general impression of Binion’s work, after showing him the whole collection. He loved all the works and commented that the reason he loved the paintings was because they were appealing to the eyes. 

“I love the color, light but not too bright to hurt my eyes. The grids are attractive as well, especially for OCD like me.” 

Nothing is better than having a random conversation with a stranger, in the sunshine on a lovely Saturday afternoon, except catching McArthur Binion’s solo exhibition, McArthur Binion: Seasons, at Kavi Gupta Gallery. Visiting the exhibition is a really relaxing experience. The exhibition is composed of two spaces. One is showing the painter’s first collection, the DNA: Seasons; and the other one is displaying his other collection, honey, plus some of the works from the third collection of the painter, MAB: 1947. In other words, the exhibition contains paintings from three collections of McArthur Binion. From the exhibition, we can see the painter’s personal style very well. All of his collections are built of paintings with depicting grids and hand-drawn lines, reminiscent of breathing. The color plate of the paintings is natural, as the man I met in the café said, light but not so bright. Additionally, the paintings are strongly presented in both entirety and detail. Looking closely, you will find that there are things hiding under the pigment, photocopied numbers and names (gleaned from Binion’s personal address book of the 1970s New York) or tightly ordered photographs. Standing in the exhibition space, I feel like the paintings on the walls are windows caged by peacefully colored strings. The world outside is the reality, allegorized by those printed words and photos. You can have a good dream in the innocent white room, with the protection, against the reality. 

What can wake up a dreaming person? Take an information booklet on the galley counter, read something about McArthur Binion, and you’ll find the exhibition doesn’t mean to be lovely or dreamy for the artist. “The grids, themselves a result of intensive labor, is underlaid by the emotional weight of his collected address.” The paintings are supposed to give the audience a feeling of tenseness and great emotional impact. But the way the curator (or the painter) did, doesn’t give me such feeling at least. 

Art is subjective, people can choose the angle to view the art themselves. The curator wants it to be heaven and serious, I would rather not. Choose an afternoon to come to the gallery, have a one-hour daydream in the dreamy cage, then go back to reality. 

That’s nicer, isn’t it? 

Who Tells the Truth?

From 23rd July to 4th Oct, there is a photography exhibition, North Korean Perspective, shown in the Museum of Contemporary Photography (MoCP). 12 photographers, mostly from the Western world, try to use their own way to explain a mysterious Eastern communist country, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. DPRK. The most intimate enemy of Uncle Sam, has become the theme of the exhibition for an American audience. 

“I even find it really queer,” Said KT Hawbaker-Krohn, a first-year NAJ student from SAIC, pointing at a photo which shows two DPRK girls in military uniform, holding a gun together, smiling. KT, who identify as queer. She said there was a kind of queer porn video specialized in the military scene, and the gun might be a kind of symbol. In addition, the photo KT pointed at is presented in 3D, and she also thought the gloomy light, the 80s dark color, and the use of the advanced technology to reflect on an outmoded politic system made the photo more pornographic. 

Maybe KT's opinion cannot represent that of most Westerners', but the way she thinks can. In a free country, people can think freely, they take in all kinds of culture, both popular and marginal. However, can such opinions that ignore the political background tell the real story behind the photos? 

Zeyi Li, a Chinese grad student in SAIC, said he did not like the exhibition. “It represents a typical way how Westerners look at Eastern cultures, communist especially.” Li is from China a country that shares a similar politic system and historical period with North Korea. Li said he had seen many artworks, which were created by Chinese artists about the Great Cultural Revolution in China, that contained more deep thought than these photos. When Li looked at the photo which KT pointed out, he said it (and some other photos in the same category shot by the same photographer) was exactly how Westerners think: fake smiling, innocent girls with violent weapons, depressing light and color. “The photographer even use 3D making the photo more ironic, which is unfair for North Korea, because every society has its own way to develop. A revolution in DPRK may be brewing. Westerners shouldn’t laugh at,” said Li. 

As an ancient Chinese poem goes: “The true face of Lushan is lost to my sight, for it is right on this mountain that I reside.” People cannot criticize things objectively when they’re already in it. So is the way Westerners look at DPRK really unfair? Or fairer than Easterners. Katie Katsaropoulos, the student intern curator, made a conclusion for both opinions. She suggested that westerners’ interest for such photos born out of curiosity, out of context allowed them better understand, but this is irrelevant to the truth. Easterners, on the other hand, may put much emotion in the photos. This leads to injustice for the artworks, but maybe more close to the story behind them.